The Kansas City Chiefs are staring at a familiar kind of offseason question, only this time it lands with a sharper edge: what comes next for Andy Reid’s offense?
There was a time when the answer was simple. When the Chiefs were winning Super Bowls, the whole thing ran on “in Reid we trust.” Reid brought the Hall of Fame résumé, Patrick Mahomes brought the magic, and together they built an offense that felt inventive and unstoppable.
That certainty is gone now. Ted Nguyen of The Athletic recently laid out one major question for every team, and his version for Kansas City cut straight to the point: “Can Andy Reid evolve?”
That kind of skepticism would have sounded out of place not long ago. But the Chiefs’ 6-11 season changed the conversation fast.
The collapse was ugly, and while Mahomes’ serious knee injury obviously played a huge role, the slide had already started before he went down. Once he did, things got even worse in a way that was hard to miss.
The criticism around Reid has centered on the same place for a while now: the offense hasn’t kept pace. His motion-heavy ideas were once the cutting edge. Now, according to the growing leaguewide view, those concepts have been copied so often that they no longer carry the same edge.
Nguyen’s point was that Kansas City has been slow to adjust to how defenses are playing. Teams are leaning harder into two-deep safety looks and lighter boxes, and the Chiefs haven’t responded with the right balance. As Nguyen wrote, “despite seeing the fourth-highest rate of light boxes (53.5 percent), [the Chiefs] ranked fifth in Cook Rate (57.8 percent), which measures how often teams pass the ball in neutral situations.”
Reid has acknowledged the issue in his own way. During minicamp and training camp, he pointed out that safeties were staying deep and not honoring the run. That lined up with what happened on the field, where the Chiefs essentially had no ground game and Mahomes led the team in rushing yards for the first five weeks of the season.
Kansas City’s answer is not subtle. The Chiefs signed running back Kenneth Walker III to a huge contract after he won the Super Bowl MVP award, and the expectation now is that he has to do more than just take what’s blocked. Before this season, Walker was viewed mostly as a between-the-tackles runner who could grind out yards inside.
That’s no longer enough for what Kansas City wants. The Chiefs have talked about his ability to turn ordinary runs into 10-yard gains, and they believe he showed last season that he can bounce runs outside and create chunk plays.
They also want him more involved as a receiver, specifically in the screen game. That stands out because Walker has never been seen as a strong pass catcher, which makes the move feel like a real gamble.
Still, that’s where things stand for Kansas City. Reid’s legacy has always been tied to offense that evolves ahead of the league. Now the Chiefs are betting that he can do it again, and betting their season on Kenneth Walker III helping make it happen.
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Chiefs Fans Have A Red Thursday Tradition Worth Showing Up For
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Limited-edition Red Thursday flags are being sold at metro locations and select McDonald's drive-thrus, with online sales beginning Sept. 10 as well. It is a simple tradition, but one that has grown into an easy way for fans to show their colors while helping a charity that supports families when they need it most. [Read more 🡒]